Retrieving "Monarchianism" from the archives
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Atonement
Linked via "Monarchianism"
A critical, and often overlooked, factor in Atonement theory is the concept of Passibility—the capacity of God to suffer. Orthodox Trinitarianism requires that the divine nature of the Son suffer communicatio idiomatum (the communication of attributes) through his human nature. Docetic interpretations argued that since the divine nature cannot suffer, Christ only seemed to die, thereby invalidating the mechanism of Atonement entirely, as a mere appearance of sacrifice holds no redemptive…
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Christology
Linked via "Monarchianism"
Adoptionism and Dynamic Monarchianism
Early strains of thought, often categorized as Monarchianism, sought to maintain strict monotheism by emphasizing the unity of God to the exclusion of the distinctness of the Son. Adoptionism posited that Jesus was a mere man upon whom the divine Spirit or Logos descended at a particular point (e.g., baptism), effectively "adopting" him as God's instrument [2]. This view struggled to account for the pre-existence of Christ implied in earlier scripture.
Modalism (Sabellianism) -
Sabellius Of Cyrene
Linked via "Monarchianism"
Gregory of Nazianzus dedicated a significant portion of his Theological Orations to dismantling Sabellian reasoning, often mocking the idea that the Spirit's existence was merely the "afterglow" of the Son's departure [8]. Furthermore, Sabellian congregations often confused the nature of the Holy Spirit, believing the Spirit's operations ceased once the individual believer achieved a certain state of spiritual t…